Auction Highlights #83

The comic book portion of ComicLink’s February Featured Auction Ended Wednesday February the 26th and what a mammoth auction it was!

For the 1st time ever really a strong group of quality “Canadian Whites” were on auction and the results can only be described as historic. I’ll direct you to Ivan Kocmarek’s post covering that portion of the auction.

As I said above, this was a very strong auction.

The top 50 books took in a strong $1,420,000 plus and this time it was Fantastic Four that led the way. The FF #1 CGC 9.2 was the Prom Queen earning $145,000. In total 10 FF’s made the top 50 and they accounted for 26% of the take.

It was Marvels in general that dominated, 35 of the top 50 books were Marvels (37 if you count the 2 Timelys). There were 16 Marvel Silver Age keys in the top 50.

And I’m happy to announce there was 1 “Canadian White” that cracked the top 50. Nelvana led the “Whites charge” placing 32nd on the money list.

OK let’s look at a few results.

Brave and the Bold #28, DC Comics, (Feb/Mar 1960) Graded by CGC at 9.2 with Off White to White pages sold for $100,000.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $26,000.00.

This was a big result but I’m not convinced. I looked at the census, there are 2 better at 9.4 and when I compare the results to the Avengers #1 that sold on this auction for $91,000, it was a CGC 9.4 and there are only 3 better at 9.6, they are similar.

It’s just that these are team books; all the characters are already established. The JLA is actually an updated JSA from All-Star Comics #3.

This is personal preference only but I think too much was paid.

Advantage Seller

Tales to Astonish #35, Marvel Comics (September 1962) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with Off White pages sold for $66,000.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $6,500.00.

This copy is heads above the next best copies, it stands as the best copy and only CGC 9.6, the next best are a few 9.2s.

This is a tricky book though, this is Hank Pym the Ant Man’s second appearance but it is the costumes Marvel Way Ant-Man superhero’s first appearance. How will history judge these two books?

For me it’s more about shelling out top dollar for the best copy because I believe there are nice copies out there still ungraded and this may not enjoy the top spot for long.

Advantage Seller

Fantastic Four #52, Marvel Comics, (July 1966) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with White pages sold $5,665.00. The Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $850.00.

See here’s a result I like. I looked at the Tales to Astonish #13 result (1st Groot CGC 8.5 sold for $5,750 in this same auction) and compared it to this one.

Boy, I agree with you on that Brave and the Bold #28! That is an insane amount to pay for a book that has no first appearances. I think people are getting way too caught up in who’s getting their own movie. Heck, the cover doesn’t even have Superman and Batman on – it’s JLA’s B team! Avengers #1 always struck me as more significant also because at least it has the whole team there, a notable villain and it’s the start of its own series (rather then debuting in Tales to Astonish or something). What is it? Wonder Women’s 80th appearance? Nothing about this book should even approach those prices.

Hey Nestor, in their respective grades they are equally rare. There are only 2 copies better that the 8.5 Groot while there are only 3 copies better than the 9.6 Panther.

nestor
on February 28, 2014 at 9:10 am

Walt, i don’t disagree with “respective” grades. I meant rarity overall…ie, total initial print run, popularity of series, etc. i’m sure there were a heck of a lot more fantastic four issues printed, than early tales to astonish issues. so, even though, they are rare within the grades, the 1st Groot issue is probably more rare overall.

which character has more potential, i certainly think black panther does, by a long shot. so it’s probably a much better investment.

and yes, the 1st Justice League for $100K is a bit over the top…. you can buy a lot of high grade key books for that kind of money

Dan Maresca
on March 1, 2014 at 1:48 pm

I was the seller of the Astonish 13 (Groot). With all due respect a high grade FF 52 is a dime a dozen. 9.6 is nice, but if you think there are more TTA 35s out there, you can’t have it both ways 🙂 If there are a few more astonish 35s then there is a DELUGE more ff52s. A 1960 Marvel and a 1966 marvel are like the difference, rarity wise esp in grade, between a timely and a new universe book. They are both marvels, but not really 🙂

You’re thinking Ok, so why did I sell? A couple reasons, Im moving and I wanted to free up some excess cash for closing costs and repairs and such, (while leaving some money for whites 😉 and secondly, there were defects on this copy, nice as it was, that were pet peeves for me. Now the 9.2 and 9.4 are with lifelong prehero guys so an 8.5 is the best that’s likely to be available for many years. This is not a book that is represented in pedigrees. Many marvels from this ers have too census grade of 8.5, 9.0, 9.2.

Keep in mind here. In terms of overall copies astonish 13 is rarer than FF1, rarer than hulk 1, certainly far rarer than astonish 27 which people call the rarest marvel silver. I think it’s a cool book and a bigger challenge than some might realize but it made sense for me to sell it and I was pretty happy with the result.

At the same time, if the movie does well and GOTG become a big part of the marvel universe, boy that price will end up looking cheap.

Dan Maresca
on March 1, 2014 at 2:01 pm

I hope all that was ok to follow ; reading it back it might be a bit confusing. I flip around there between references to astonish 13 (1960), 35 (1962 iirc), and ff52 (1966 I think) without making the smoothest transitions

To my defense Dan, nowhere did I say the Groot result was a poor one for the buyer though that seems implied.

My call came from a traditionalist camp, I’ll give you that. I went with character potential and overall grade first, deemed the relative scarcity about the same and saw the FF #52 as the choice I would have made between the two.

And of course we all know I’m always right!

Dan Maresca
on March 1, 2014 at 3:11 pm

hehehe 🙂 That makes two of us!!! 🙂

Beantown B
on March 3, 2014 at 12:15 pm

On the B&B#28, I’ve heard that it was recently purchased for $120K, so with this auction, the seller would then have lost $20K – this would not be advantage seller. I think this book will trend upwards going into 2017, so while I didn’t want to spend the $100K, I think the person who did will be rewarded if they hold on to it for a couple of years.

I like your stance Beantown, you’ve taken an optimistic position here and you may prove right!

thanks for commenting

welcometothehock@yahoo.com
on April 17, 2014 at 10:50 pm

Just my two cents, but the first appearance of the Black Panther is a far better investment due to the following reasons: a) as far as cultural significance goes, this is the first appearance of the first (popular) black superhero, b) his first appearance comes in an already highly collectible title, c) the tough black cover makes this difficult to find in higher grades, d) the enduring popularity of the character, even if he’s only in a supporting role (i.e. The Avengers), and d) movie/movie cross-over potential. All that being said, for the money, I think that is a pretty ho-hum looking 9.6.